The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes – ICSID, with its head office in Washington, awarded a decision on 17 December under which the Republic of Slovenia had to reimburse HEP the amount exceeding EUR 40 million towards unsupplied electricity from Krško nuclear power plant in the period between 1 July 2002 until 19 April 2003.
In its decision, the Tribunal made a decision in favour of HEP i.e. the Republic of Slovenia has to reimburse HEP for the damage incurred of approximately EUR 20 million, interest (semiannual EURIBOR + 2%) charged from 1 July 2002, and 10 million US$ for attorney fees and other costs incurred by HEP during this legal process.
'We are pleased with the final verdict reached by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, especially in light of a ten year long legal process. I wish to emphasize a good cooperation with our Slovenian partners in Krško nuclear power plant and I believe it will continue to develop at mutual satisfaction of both Croatia and Slovenia.', said Perica Jukić, the President of the Management Board of Hrvatska elektroprivreda.
The Slovenian ELES disconnected the overhead lines from Krško to Zagreb in late July 1998. The Government of the Republic of Slovenia then seized HEP's 50 percent ownership share, which was followed by multi-year negotiations ending in signing the Intergovernmental Agreement on Krško Nuclear Power Plant in late 2011, deletion of all mutual claims until 30 June 2002, and the agreement on the restoration of electricity supply no later than 1 July 2002.
The ICSID process was launched 10 years ago. On 4 November 2005, HEP filed the request for initiating the arbitration process against the Republic of Slovenia claiming suffered damages stemming from its necessity to use own more expensive facilities and import instead of cheaper electricity produced by Krško.
No appeal against this arbitration award is permitted.
